The Tenth Intake of the Kotelawala Defence University (formerly the Kotelawala Defence Academy) celebrates its 27th Anniversary on today. Serving and Retired Officers of the Intake have organized a Bodhi Pooja Pinkamato be held at the Kelaniya Raja MahaViharaya in the evening on the day of the Anniversary, mainly to invoke blessings on and to commemorate the great sacrifices made by the 07 fallen War Heroes of this Intake and also on the four other members of the Intake who have passed away due to natural causes, with the participation of parents, wives and children of the fallen/deceased.
Lieutenant Saman Muttettuwatta (Navy), Captain Muditha Abeysekera (Army), Captain Saliya Fernando (Army), Major Duminda Attanagoda (Army), Major Nandana Jayasinghe (Army), Major Terrance McKelvie(Army) and Commander Nishantha Abeysinghe (Navy) of the KDU Ten laid down their lives in the line of duty and 2nd Lieutenant Harischandra Nanayakkara (Army), Major Prasad Perera (Army) and Lieutenant Sriyanjith Nagahawatta(Army) passed away untimely due to natural causes while Midshipman Jagath Rajapaksha (Navy) succumbed to injuries he received from a training-related accident occurred while undergoing training at Naval and Maritime Academy in Trincomalee in 1993.
Tenth Intake, comprising 73 Officer Cadets, was inducted to the KDU, at the height of the War, on November 8, 1992 to begin their training as future military leaders of the Army (46), Navy (22) and the Air Force (05). The Intake was graduated in 1995 producing 30 Army Officers, 20 Navy Officers and 03 Air Force Officers.
Officers of the KDU Ten, like everyone else who joined the Forces during that era, actively involved in the country’s war effort to rescue the country from the clutches of terrorism and by the time the War ended victoriously wiping out the LTTE Terrorist Organization and its leadership from the face our motherland, seven of their fellow officers (five Army and two Navy) had made the supreme sacrifice and many had received battle-injuries related disabilities while their Officers had been decorated with five WWVs (WeeraWickramaPadakkama), eight RWPs (Rana WickramaPadakkama) and 41 RSPs (Rana SuraPadakkama).
They also take this opportunity to pay their respect and remember with gratitude the Late General Sir John Kotelawala, on whose ideals--For the Motherland Forever--and donation of resources, the KDU was established in 1980.
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